"Stalin was personally responsible for the Purges in Russiain the 1930s"

• Stalin’s personal responsibility is probable for Kirov’s assassination could either be an excuse or coincidence. Sparked the escalating series of Purges…excuse to start purging?! Evidence: Stalin immediately under emergency “security” legislation allowed to arrest people thought to be trying “terrorist acts” against the regime an put them on trial with no appeals and NKVD was to sentence the guilty to death! Stalin may have killed Kirov due to jealousy + Kirov was twice voted in majority of Stalin over a policy of reconciliation put forward by K. in 1934 and the demands K. made to stop the arrests and executions! Politburo voted in favour of K. with a significant majority! Stalin had K. killed to get rid of opposition! Evidence: the assassination came in December 1934, only a few months after the defeat and public humiliation after the two defeats of votes against his regime!! Kirov challenged S. in public which worried him! Also, the fact that he could not trust anyone is more evident: Iagoda (Head of NKVD for the first two Purges did not seem to please Stalin anymore (the novelty had worn off) he was removed from his post and replaced immediately with Ezhov. Also, Stalin expected TOTAL SUBMISSION from his Party wanted the Party 100% in his favour etc. Evidence: Iagoda was apparently not displaying enough persistence in pressing charges against Rykov and was removed for the slightest hint of what Stalin saw as “insubordination!” Kirov’s death could have been used as an excuse for Stalin to purge the party and get rid of any potential threats to his power! It is evident that Stalin wanted TOTAL CONTROL OVER RUSSIA AND ITS PEOPLE! Stalin claimed the person caught red-handed Nikolayev was part of a larger conspiracy led by Troksky…this resulted in the arrests of Kamenev and Zinoviev and 15 other Party members! Was it an excuse to start the “ball rolling”? Had Stalin planned Kirov’s death and used the culprit?!

• The NKVD reported to Stalin all the time when they had carried out arrests or tortures! Reports about the Gulags were also brought to Stalin’s attention.

• These unfair “show trials” were legal- allowed to execute whomever was suspected of treason! Good excuse to get rid of opposition?! How did Stalin not know about the ‘Show Trials’ if they were legal, surely he had to sign to say they were legal?! Usually evidence to convict them was almost non-existent; they relied on confessions extracted through torture and threats against family members!

• Key “show trials” between 1936 and 1938 (Kamenev, Bukarhin, Zinoviev) accused of Kirov’s murder!

• Stalin’s personal characteristics, such as, his paranoia: he consigned the ‘Old Bolsheviks’ to oblivion and their successors/ replacements saw the same fate. Evidence: Stalin trusted know one and maybe the novelty of what they achieved for him expired therefore he wanted to replace them! He was seen to be untrusting of others.
• Military Purge, evidence that surely Stalin knew what was happening!! 35,000 military officers shot or imprisoned. Evidence: major reason why Germany invaded Russia so easily in 1941.Deteriotation in Army leadership led to less effectiveness of the Red Army! Surely Stalin questioned why his forces had been diminished?! Or was there no need because he knew why?! June 1937, Red Army commander Tukhachevsky charged with conspiracy and executed!

• Social Purge- millions of ordinary people assisted in ‘unmasking’ opposition to the regime. Denunciations were common; were a good way of striking off enemies, or gaining occupational promotions or helped citizens prove their patriotism.

• NKVD Purge- Stalin wanted to make sure those who knew too much about the Purges would be killed. He wanted to erase evidence that he WAS PERSONNALLY RESPONSIBLE!! Evidence: Igoda was arrested in March 1937 and so too were 3,000 of his former NKVD assistants- were executed immediately! Same happened later on to Ezhov- Feb 1939, he disappeared- apparently shot!

•  Furthermore, he blamed the whole Purge of Society on the “fascist elements” in the NKVD which led to innocent people being executed…he shifted the blame onto the dead…who could not argue otherwise!! Also a chance to execute al the top figures who ‘posed a threat’ to Stalin, e.g. Beria (new head of secret police) was instructed to find out who was responsible….by Stalin?!

• Propaganda circulated USSR how did Stalin not see this?!

• By 1938, 7 million Purge victims. How did Stalin not know about these huge numbers of deaths?!

• 1936 Ezhov (appointed Head of NKVD) immediately arrested all leading political figures in the Soviet Union who were critical of Stalin! Had this been S idea? He must have known, as the NKVD reported to him?! Wouldn’t he question why all of his most important people, e.g. Bukharin etc. had been arrested?! 1936- Bukharin, Rykov, Yagoda (ex ally of Stalin, ex head of NKVD) Krestinsky, Ravoksky- arrested and accused of being involved with Trotsky on a plot against Stalin…were all executed!! On the basis of false evidence! (See tortured confessions above).

• Even Stalin’s own wife committed suicide when she criticised him for the suffering collectivisation had caused countless Soviet peasants. In my opinion, out of everyone who may have known Stalin, maybe his wife knew him the most and her actions demonstrate that she knew what he was capable of, his viciousness and the fact that it was a fatal mistake to even question his regime!!
• How did Stalin not know these show trials were taking place?! Several were held in Moscow (Capital city) to serve as examples for the trials that local courts were expected to carry out!

• Stalin’s private physician in the mid-1930s thought Stalin was completely unstable mentally, and actually clinically insane.

Against

• The great Purge is named the ‘Yezhovschina’, named after Ezhov, Head of the NKVD in 1936. Did this show he was responsible?!

• Stalinism, was merely a continuation of the brutal and dictoral system installed under his predecessor Lenin. Evidence: Source: Richard Pipes: Russia under the Bolshevik Regime. “Every ingredient of Stalinism…he had learned from Lenin…including collectivisation and mass terror. Stalin’s ideology was Lenin’s…he had a inadequate education…had no other sources of ideas.” He was a great Lenin supporter and idolised him and his theories. Stalin was very committed to him! During the Civil War the Cheka made widespread use of torture and execution to deal with counter-revolutionaries (opposition). They arrested and put the “enemies” in concentration camps or executed them between 1918 and 1920. E.g. in the Civil War and made a decree on ‘factionalism’ to prevent party splits.

• There was evidence of opposition to Stalin’s regime and his political position, as many of the members of the Party had urged Kirov to take over Stalin’s place. But he refused. Furthermore, Riutin circulated a 200 page anti-Stalin document to remove Stalin from his post at the head of the party.

• The methods used by the NKVD may have not been Stalin’s idea; they used the effective threat that the death penalty could be applied to children from “traitors” families down to the age of 12! Stalin still had the overall responsibility as he had overall control and could have prevented more deaths occurring if he wanted!!

• Stalin’s daughter believed her father had a paranoid personality, but it was poisoned by men around him so that he saw threats everywhere.

• The NKVD were proven to be behind the killing of Trotsky and Kirov- not Stalin- and acted independently

• Chitskas were carried out by local party branches, those who were worthy to stay in the party was decided by a Party Council Commission under Kaganovitch. Showing not all responsibilities could be definitely placed at Stalin’s feet.
• A special commission of 5 politburo members were set up to investigate opposition within the party.

• If Stalin was indeed solely responsible and had enough power to control the killing of 30 million people, then why did he have any opposition at all?

• Some of the party officials who were purged were probably only members because of the perks, e.g. high pay, house, shops- were all better quality for party members- so was it unfair to remove them?

• Although Stalin did appear to benefit directly from the death of some opponents, many millions of those purged were total “unknowns” to Stalin- he did not know the majority of those purged!

Judgement

Stalin wanted to set the stage for gaining absolute power by employing police repression against opposition within the Communist Party. Evidence: removal of opponent was carried out on the Politburo, Trotsky, Zinoviev, Kamenev – expelled from the party in 1927. Furthermore, by 1934 Stalin was unchallenged leader of both party and state and did not try to replace the people he had removed. Does this say he wanted them removed permanently? Moreover, he managed to bring both the party and state into complete submission to his rule. The Soviet society felt so under pressure and scared of Stalin the mass arrests stopped! He achieved near-absolute power afterwards with the Great Purge against suspected political and ideological opponents

The murder of Kirov Dec. 1934 set off a chain of events which culminated in the Great Terror. In the need for a pretext for launching a broad Purge, Stalin evidently decided that murdering Kirov would be expedient (suitable under the circumstances!)